 225.3 kms | 1.2 |  Gisborne GP| 1 |  | Quinten Hermans | Duvel-Tsingtao | 5h22'34" | | 2 | | Hayden McCormick | Cervelo Test Team | s.t. | | 3 |  | Ian Boswell | Glanbia | s.t. | | 4 |  | Ruben Guerreiro | Team Würth MODYF | s.t. | | 5 |  | Quentin Pacher | Euskotren - Pays Basque | s.t. | | 6 |  | Luca Wackermann | Euskotren - Pays Basque | s.t. | | 7 |  | Gonzalo Serrano | Euskadi-Murias | s.t. | | 8 | | Victor Lafay | Euskotren - Pays Basque | s.t. | | 9 | | Clement Koretzky | Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team | s.t. | | 10 |  | Matevz Govekar | Trans Looney Tunes | s.t. | | | ---------- | | 41 |  | Costa Seibeb  | Tryg - ENI | +2'53" |
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6 stages | 2.1 |  Tour Down Under
| Stages: | Stage winner: | TRG | GC | 01.  166 km |  Maximilian Walscheid (KMM) | 10th | 13th | | 02. 117 km |  Fabio Christen (LOT) | 5th | 6th | | 03. 147 km | Clement Venturini (INO) | 8th | 4th | | 04. 135 km |  Nika Sitchinava (P4E) | 8th | 4th | | 05. 114 km |  Willie Smit (SCT) | 18th | 11th | | 06. 89.5 km | Enzo Wouters (LOT) | 16th | 11th |
Final overall standings & jersey winners | 1 |  | Kristian Haugaard | Genii Hyundai N Cycling | 17h47'40 | | 2 | | Ian Boswell | Glanbia | + 2" | | 3 |  | Christopher Lagane | Podium Ambition | + 13" | | 4 | | Peter Sagan | DK Zalgiris | + 18" | | 5 | | Jay McCarthy | Manada Coyote | + 23" | | 6 | | Bruno Borges | Llapi - Vita | s.t. | | 7 |  | Tomohiro Kinoshita | Minions | + 24" | | 8 | | Gianni Moscon | Cervelo Test Team | + 27" | | 9 |  | Wilco Kelderman | Llapi - Vita | s.t. | | 10 | | Patrick Müller | Team UBS | + 29" | | | ---------- | | | | 11 | | Arnaud Démare | Tryg - ENI | + 37" |
 Overall | Kristian Haugaard | Genii Hyundai N Cycling |  Points |  Houcaine El Sabbahi | Benetton Bimex Cycling |  Mountain | Willie Smit | Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh |  Young | Fabio Christen | Lotto - Caloi | | | | | Best team: |  Llapi - Vita | |
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229.6 kms | 1.1 |  Badaling International | 1 | | Emanuel Buchmann | Team UBS | 5h22'38 | | 2 | | Marc Hirschi | Sauber Petronas Racing | s.t. | | 3 | | Andrea Bagioli | Indosat Ooredoo | s.t. | | 4 | | Xandro Meurisse | Specialized | s.t. | | 5 |  | Jhonatan Narvaez | McCormick Pro Cycling | s.t. | | 6 |  | Petr Vakoc | Lotto-Caloi | s.t. | | 7 | | Tomohiro Kinoshita | Minions | s.t. | | 8 | | Aurelien Paret-Peintre | Ekoi - Le Creuset | s.t. | | 9 | | Mick Van Dijke | Sony - Force India | s.t. | | 10 |  | Natnael Tesfatsion | Bralirwa - Cegeka | s.t. | | | ---------- | | 18 | | Michal Schlegel | Tryg - ENI | +21" |
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4 stages | 2.1 | Tour of Guadeloupe
| Stages: | Stage winner: | TRG | GC | | 01. 166 km | Bryan Coquard (MCY) | 13th | 16th | | 02. 157 km | Caleb Ewan (ISA) | 15th | 18th | | 03. 139 km | Bryan Coquard (MCY) | 42nd | 21st | | 04. 112 km | Daniel Vesely (ZAL) | 18th | 24th |
Final overall standings & jersey winners | 1 | | Caleb Ewan | ISA - Hexacta | 12h24'21" | | 2 | | Bryan Coquard | Manada Coyote | s.t. | | 3 | | Daniel Vesely | DK Zalgiris | + 11" | | 4 |  | Stylianos Farantakis | ELCO - ABEA | + 16" | | 5 | | Niccolo Bonifazio | Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo | + 24" | | 6 |  | Jonas Ahlstrand | Minions | + 25" | | 7 | | Rick Zabel | Kraftwerk Man Machine | + 27" | | 8 |  | Stanislaw Aniolkowski | Team Popo4Ever | + 30" | | 9 |  | Alexandr Kulikovskiy | Sony - Force India | + 32" | | 9 | | Elias Afewerki | Benetton Bimex Cycling | s.t. | | | ---------- | | | | 24 | | Adam Holm Jorgensen | Tryg - ENI | + 51" |
| Overall | Caleb Ewan | ISA - Hexacta | | Points | Caleb Ewan | ISA - Hexacta | | Mountain |  Aviv Yechezkel | Sony - Force India | | Young | Adam Holm Jorgensen | Tryg - ENI | | | | | Best team: |  Cervelo Test Team | |
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212.6 kms | 1.2 |  Clasico San Jose | 1 |  | Cristian Raileanu | Babymetal | 5h34'18" | | 2 | | Xianjing Lyu | Duvel-Tsingtao | s.t. | | 3 |  | Sven Erik Bystrom | Ethiopian Airlines | s.t. | | 4 | | Gianni Moscon | Cervelo Test Team | s.t. | | 5 | | Gonzalo Serrano | Euskadi-Murias | s.t. | | 6 | | Ruben Guerreiro | Team Würth MODYF | s.t. | | 7 | | Victor Lafay | Euskotren - Pays Basque | s.t. | | 8 |  | Sarawut Sirironnachai | Zain-Omantel | s.t. | | 9 | | Emmanuel Morin | Hilcona Racing Team | s.t. | | 10 |  | Eduard Alexander Beltran | Spark Team NZ | + 23" | | | ---------- | | 17 | | Costa Seibeb | Tryg - ENI | + 51" |
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129.8 kms | 1.PTHC | Great Ocean Road Classic | 1 |  | Lewis Askey | Ekoi - Le Creuset | 2h59'52" | | 2 | | Milan Menten | King Power | s.t. | | 3 | | Lennert Van Eetvelt | Bralirwa - Cegeka | s.t. | | 4 | | Scott Davies | Tryg - ENI | s.t. | | 5 |  | Clement Kusi | Everesting | s.t. | | 6 |  | Jesus Roniel Marte | Podium Ambition | s.t. | | 7 |  | Daniil Fominykh | Team UBS | s.t. | | 8 |  | Salem Kemboi | Lidl Cycling | s.t. | | 9 | | Bryan Coquard | Manada Coyote | s.t. | | 10 | | Matis Louvel | Ekoi - Le Creuset | s.t. |
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Our season started off in Aotearoa, where we were happy to see Søjberg making the most of his first professional ride by getting into the morning's breakaway. Unfortunately, nobody was on form this early in the year so we lacked any presence when it came to the finalé.
Then, across the ditch, it was time to tackle one of our sponsor's goals. Our poor run continued as Démare struggled throughout. He failed to properly position himself for the early sprints and the team refused to work on the hilly stages, so they went the way of the escapees instead. Our GC ambitions came to an end on the final ascent of Mt Lofty, with the only upside being that we at least got to see Wright and Pedersen assembling a train. Not that that worked out either.
It was good to see Davies and Enggaard getting some television time in China. Our main man was always going to be Schlegel, who also looked to be taking part in the attacking spirit when he tried to follow a move relatively early on. He didn't reserve enough for the final climb though, so couldn't contest it.
Things went from bad to worse for our marquee. Even though he was denied the opportunity to contest for stage victories, no small factor in his despondent GC campaign, Démare did at least contest the lesser positions available to the peloton during the Tour Down Under. He couldn't even manage that in Guadeloupe. Instead he consistently failed to properly position himself for the mass sprints and, as a result, consistently finished outside the scoring positions in a race that he only narrowly failed to win last season. Nothing captures just how awful this was better than the fact that Jørgensen was our highest finisher overall thanks to a singular stint in the breakaway.
Thankfully, a small uptick in form followed on from this. We had Seibeb managing to make the final selection in San Jose, although the strength of the Continental puncheur field was on full display as he was cracked on the final climb. Still, 17th is not dreadful. Then it was time for Davies to surprise us all by taking 4th from the breakaway on the Great Ocean Road. Significant improvements are needed, but these are small steps in the right direction. |
